Cowardice
by Ace Trainer Ritchie
Summary: [AT] Those who run away do not get to regret that fact. You ran away. Now you need to think about what you have done and pay for the rest of your life.


Honestly, I really love Takuya. But this idea came to mind and I just couldn't help but act on it.

* * *

"First you take a drink, then the drink takes a drink, and then the drink takes you." F. Scott Fitzgerald

* * *

Look at you. Terrible. Miserable. Pitiful.

Despicable. Unredeemable. Coward. Why did you leave?

First it was just check out the pretty Digital World. It was interesting and new and _interesting!_ Oh god how interesting was it? Much more interesting than your mundane life. Much more!

Then it was scary. Too scary. Too real. Go back go back _go back_. You didn't want this now.

Pathetic.

You claimed you were the leader. The leader. Who was a coward. The leader who couldn't even properly lead your team. You didn't know what to do. But you were leader, so you had to lead. But could you lead?

No, obviously not. You were the coward. You ran away completely. You went back in time, thinking the cushion of your own home was far better than the luxurious tales of the Digital World. Endless bragging rights! You saved the world, you turned into this cool being, why won't your friends believe you?

Because it didn't happen. It didn't happen for you. The others got it. The others got that fame if they lived. You? No, nowhere close. Cowards don't deserve fame.

They just deserve bodies that are a reminder of their crime. Bodies that were too far detached from what they ran too, and served only as a reminder. A reminder that you messed up. You messed up _bad_! Congratulations! No one else did this. You're a first, you selfish human.

Which honestly, no one else on your team managed to do. You don't even know if they're back. If they were, you can't see them. No one wants to see you. That's how this punishment worked. You want to abandon worldly issues for your family? Friends in danger over a family that's doing _just fine?_

Guess what? Your family is terrified of you. _People_ are terrified of you. Oh, you thought people laughed at the cowards. You _thought_ and that's where everything went downhill. First rule of world saving – don't think. Especially when you're the leader. Thinking is bad. Thinking leads to this.

Thinking leads to you running away in shame because you're not human. You're also not an animal. What kind of animal breathes fire? What kind of animal wears pants? Has eyes like a human, gloves, and was never recorded by scientists at all? That's what you become. Unidentifiable.

Even if you were to be classified as an animal – which you _aren't_ \- what kind of animal are you? Animals flee but they also protect the weak. But you were human too. Human's primal instincts are to protect the weak. Wasn't that child on your team weak? Weren't you holding an injured boy?

Don't play that part-Digimon crap. You had a human spirit and a beast spirit. You were human back then. You're still technically human now. Regardless, Digimon protect the weak. It's how their world works. Now don't tell me you're selfish? Fighting for justice? But in reality just wanting to make a name for yourself. This isn't a game. You can't run away when you're title just might now work out.

Oh right, didn't a member of your team say it wasn't a game? That this was actually serious and you should really think about why you came to this world? But you just ignore him because you didn't agree with him, didn't you? Oh, weren't you smarter than this?

Oh, right, don't think. First rule of being a leader. Except you chose the wrong time to think and to not think in both cases.

Still, your battle plan consisting of running away? And then looking at your brother's birthday party from afar.

Don't cry. This is punishment. Look at the you who you robbed so much from. That guy, watching his brother blow out the candle. That's _you_. That's the you that could've had a best friend. Learned to work better with people. The you that couldn't have been a brat.

Yes, this is your fault. You were a coward. You entertained the thought of running away and let the thought consume you. Do _not_ expect anyone to feel sorry for you. Your act of cowardice is not something you could redeem at all.


End file.
